The present invention relates to a driving position adjusting apparatus for a vehicle which comprises a driver's seat provided on a floor panel of a vehicle compartment and an operational pedal operated by a driver seated in the driver's seat.
Conventionally, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-83781, for example, a driving position adjusting apparatus, which comprises a seat position adjusting device to longitudinally move a seat cushion of a driver's seat and a floor moving mechanism to move up or down a movable floor portion on which a heel of a driver who is seated in the driver's seat and operates an operational pedal is placed, wherein the movable floor portion is moved up according to a forward move of the seat cushion, is known. In this apparatus, there are provided a pull cable to transmit a drive force of moving forward the seat cushion with the seat position adjusting mechanism as a pull force and a winding-up mechanism to wind up the pull cable. A base end of the pull cable wound up by the winding-up mechanism is provided to extend forwardly of a vehicle body and connected to the seat cushion, whereas a tip of the pull cable is connected to a moving portion of the floor moving mechanism.
According to the above-described driving position adjusting apparatus disclosed in the publication, in case the driver's seat is moved forwardly of the vehicle body with the seat position adjusting mechanism when the driver is changed from a tall driver to a short driver, such as a women, for example, the drive force is transmitted to the moving portion of floor moving mechanism via the pull cable, and thereby the movable floor portion is pulled up by the floor moving mechanism. Accordingly, the above-described driving position adjusting apparatus has an advantage in that the height position of the above-described movable floor portion can be automatically adjusted so that even the short driver, who has a relatively short sole compared to the tall driver, can operate (press) the operational pedal properly with a driver's foot.
However, in case, as disclosed in the above-described publication, there are provided a cross member to support a front end portion of the driver's seat and a floor support member to support the movable floor portion on a floor bottom portion which is partitioned by a kick-up portion formed at a front end portion of a vehicle floor, and a portion of the driver's seat at the driver's foot is configured to move up over a substantially entire area by sliding a slide axis of the movable floor portion along a guide groove which is formed at the floor support portion, there is a problem in that the size of the above-described movable floor portion and its moving mechanism would become improperly large and their structures would be so complex, which may cause an increase of the vehicle weight and manufacturing costs.